No problem. Obviously I also agree with what you have written.

It would be great if credit card banks published meaningful statistics so that it is possible to see if their was a run-up in debt that ran parallel to the run-up in oil price. This would indicate that in general people were hoping to use credit as a buffer whilst waiting for a 'return' to normal. If main-stream-media at the time was also only able to chant a mantra of "recovery and return to normal", then this would have made the case worse.

Alas, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, that is supposed to regulate the credit card banks and represent the interests of the people, has failed miserably since the beginning. In my dreams the credit card bank statistics would include details of the number of people subject to hikes in interest rates, actual interest charges and late fees etc.

My suspicion is that the banks, by screwing the public, effectively also screwed themselves. The claims by the USA Administration that the banks need to be protected from failure to protect the public have got it backwards - the public was already hurting long before the banks started to hurt. I say let the banks fail and crucify the banksters.